Kaede (楓, "Maple") was a priestess who lived in a village near the Bone-Eater's Well. She was the first to encounter Kagome and she often provides important advice and background information to Inuyasha's group to assist in their journey; she was Kikyō's younger sister.

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As Kikyō's younger sister, Kaede would assist her with various tasks such as gathering herbs or holding her arrows. Kaede also travels with Kikyō to a priest's shrine to learn to be a priestess, and there she and Kikyō met the dark priestess Tsubaki for the first time.

Kaede loses her right eye after an attack on Kaede's Village. Kaede had tried to shoot a demon that was about to attack Kikyō, but missed. The demon then went to attack Kaede, but Kikyō shot it in time. The arrow failed to purify the demon's jaki, resulting in an explosion that rendered Kaede permanently blind in the right eye. In the manga, her eye appears to be freshly bandaged and bleeding shortly before Kikyō's death, suggesting that the wound occurs when Inuyasha attacks the village to steal the Shikon Jewel; supplementary information states that she "lost her elder sister and her eye in an incident fifty years ago." The anime shows the incident occurring when Kikyō shot an arrow at a demon near Kaede—the attack wounded Kaede's right eye and left it blind. Her parents died when she was very young and Kikyō was her only family.

After Kikyō's death, Kaede becomes a strong priestess in her own right and defends the village against demons. When Kagome Higurashi arrives, Kaede recognizes her as the reincarnation of her sister. When Kagome frees Inuyasha, Kaede places the "Beads of Subjugation" onto him to give Kagome the power to control him with a spoken word. Kaede is well-respected and held in high regards by the villagers and the members of Inuyasha's group, whom she often advises about demons and other spiritual anomalies. Though Inuyasha is easily annoyed with her, he listens to her when necessary and doesn't hesitate to protect her from a threat. Later on in the series, Kaede took on a running gag where people would usually mistake her as a demon and not a priestess, due to her old age.

In The Final Act during Kikyō's final death, Kaede sees soul collectors flying around her village as she sees the spirit of Kikyō who came to bid her a farewell; using the last of her strength, Kikyō finally bids her sister a farewell saying sorry for causing her pain. In The Final Act ending set three years later, Rin lives with her in the village to become accustomed to living alongside other humans; Kaede is also training Kagome to become a full priestess.

Kaede bore a very striking resemblance to her sister Kikyo in her youth. In her old age, her long hair which she keeps tied behind in a long ponytail has grayed and her facial appearance has altered slightly, as her face dons various aged creases and wrinkles. Kaede is of short stature with a surprisingly slim build for her age, however has a slightly bigger build that has accumulated with old age.

Kaede's clothing is identical to Kikyō's. She is normally seen wearing the traditional dress of a miko, which has remained essentially unchanged to this day. Kaede wears a white jacket with sode-kukuri (cords) through the sleeves and the open shoulders similar to Inuyasha's and Jaken's. Strings called muna-himo are attached to each lapel, and are tied in front to keep the garment in place. Kaede wears bright red hakama, which include the small board at the lower back. On her feet, Kaede wears common tabi (socks with a split for the big toe) and rice straw sandals. During a battle prior to Kikyō's death, Kaede lost an eye. She now wears an iron tsuba (sword guard) as an eye-patch.

As seen, Kaede is a kind priestess who tends to people all over the village. Although a patient person, Kaede can sometimes be very serious and aggressive. Being the sister of a priestess, Kaede adopts many similar personalities and characteristics from her sister, often calling Kikyō her idol.

Master Archer: Kaede wields the Bow and Arrow with much skill and accuracy, being able to shoot any target with precision despite her missing eye. Due to her old age, her accuracy has somewhat decreased. This skill most likely made her very formidable in her prime considering that she was personally tutored by her sister, Kikyo, who is well known for being more powerful than any average priestess.

High Intellect: Even when Kaede was only 6 years old, she had displayed great knowledge and insight on life in the feudal era. After aging 50 years, Kaede became heavily experienced and intellectual and as such many of the villagers and members of Inuyasha's group would often come to her for advice whenever they face a great hurdle whether be it in the quest for the Shikon Jewel shards or emotional problems that their immaturity creates.

Kaede fights with a bow and arrow

Great Spiritual Power: Kaede is a miko of considerable power, and she has many spiritual abilities that she uses for combat and healing. Although not nearly as powerful as Kikyō, Kaede possesses very high spiritual powers, being able to sense demonic auras and other supernatural occurrences. Kaede later on taught these same skills and abilities to Kagome (Kikyo's reincarnation) who later became powerful in their use herself.

Sutra Magic: Kaede is capable of using sutra spells to ward off demons; she was once shown doing this in tandem with Miroku.

Barriers: In several InuYasha episodes (including movies) Kaede is shown capable of conjuring a large barrier around her village to prevent anything from attacking its inhabitants. Creating the barrier, however, seems to have weakened her considerably and places strain on her body.

Enhanced Endurance: When she was but a child, Kaede was able to endure having her right eye lost to a demon and recovered enough to rejoin the battle for the Shikon Jewel. Later on in her advanced age, Kaede would endure an attack that incapacitated her right arm by Yura but still capable of fighting.

Enhanced Eyesight: Just like Kikyō and Kagome, Kaede can see things that are normally invisible to normal people such as the extremely thin hair of Yura something that is notable since she doesn't have the use of her right eye anymore.

Bow and Arrows: Being trained in the similar ways of the priestess as her older sister, Kikyo, Kaede utilizes bow and arrows as her main weapons where she imbues them with her spiritual powers.

Sacred Arrow: Kaede, like many priestesses, applies her spiritual powers to her bow and arrow to produce sacred arrows. Her sacred arrows, however, are not as powerful as those of Kikyō and Kagome. When Kaede was 10, her arrows had a small pink aura, with about half the brightness of Kikyō's arrow. Her sacred arrows no longer have any spiritual light, which is due to her old age.

Arrow of Sealing: Though not having actually use it herself, Kikyo had taught her the arrow of sealing should there be a demon her spiritual powers can't defeat but only seal away.

Beads of Subjugation: Kaede was the one who placed the beads of subjugation on Inuyasha when he attempted to take the Shikon Jewel after killing Mistress Centipede. She took the beads from her attire and magically had it transport itself onto Inuyasha's neck and had Kagome utter the words of subjugation.

Kikyō was her only family left after her parents and idolized her sister because of her bravery. After Kikyō's death, Kaede became a miko, and held that title for 50 years. After Kikyō's resurrection, she didn't recognized Kaede initially, though they met a few times later. When Kikyō's soul finally passed on, she apologized to Kaede for the mistakes she made.

When Inuyasha was first freed from Kikyō's spell by Kagome, he did not recognize Kaede because she had aged 50 years, though he remembered who she was when she explained everything. Inuyasha was often rude to Kaede, referring to her as an "old hag" on numerous occasions. Despite Inuyasha's rudeness, he did care for Kaede; he rushed over to hear when he smelled her blood after she was attacked by Urasue. [1]

Kaede was the first person that Kagome encountered when she first was dragged into the Feudal Era. Kagome cares deeply for her and vice-versa; Kaede's village was where Kagome and her friends normally were, so Kaede and Kagome spent a lot of time together. At the end of the series, after Kagome decided to live in the Feudal Era permanently, Kaede began teaching her how to become a true priestess.

At the side of the elderly Kaede, there is often a helper of the village called Rikichi, which helps in matters that concern the welfare of the village, including the extermination of demons of low rank. Rikichi has a great respect towards the priestess Kaede and on one occasion defends her to an attack.

"It's been fifty years since that day... Inuyasha is still sealed to the Tree of Life. Inuyasha is as he was then. At that time, Sister knew her life was over. Then why did she choose to use a sealing arrow and not a purifying arrow? Why did she seal Inuyasha to the tree which transcends time, the Tree of Life? And why... although he hated my sister for sealing him onto the tree, Inuyasha's face still looks so peaceful? I still don't get it... I wonder if a day will come when I will fully understand...?"

"That was the first time I'd seen the Sacred Jewel. And after she was given custody of it, sister Kikyō's fate changed drastically. She would watch other girls her age indulge in make-up, paint their faces white, and enjoy their youth."

Kaede shares her name with a character from Urusei Yatsura, another series by Rumiko Takahashi.

In Kagome's dream (when Tsubaki placed a curse on her), Kaede appeared in the modern world buying a gift from Kagome's grandpa for her Grandson Shippō. In the dream sequence, Kaede is shown as having both of her eyes.

During the early episodes of the English Dub, Kaede would speak with a Medieval dialect. This was subsequently dropped as the series continued.